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Friday, 31 December 2010

Carved from a piece of Birch that had a wonderful natural curve in it, the spoon follows the shape of the piece of birch and has therefore retained it's strength, the neck of the spoon as you can see is quite narrow, but the depth of the neck with the "keel" keeps things nice and strong.

The spoon needs finishing as it's still very much in the rough and a little thick in places, in keeping with a lot of my recent spoonage though, I'm going to do a tooled finish rather than sand it down, it seems more "authentic", after all, our ancestors didn't have the sand and glass papers we have today and a tooled finish was the norm, it also feels, how can i put it?, right when you are using it as well, an added bonus of a tooled finish as well, is the grain doesn't lift when it gets wet as it does on a sanded spoon, don't get me wrong, i like sanded spoons as well as tooled ones, and in the right context a sanded spoon does look better, I'm just going through the stage of adding a tooled finish to my spoons at the moment.

Well, that's it for 2010, it just leaves me to say thanks you all the people who take the time to read my blog and i hope you gleaned something from it and wish you all the best for 2011.

Thursday, 30 December 2010

I added a few new items to my leather work website today, including a large leather pouch and some ferro rod belt hangers in various colours, all items are offered on a first come first served basis, click on the link above to go to my leather work web site and have a look at the latest items to be added.

Wednesday, 29 December 2010

Ive only gone and done it again, what's that?, i hear you ask, well i have a penchant for upsetting the forum guru's and mostie posties it would seem, i know one thing for sure though, it's great fun exposing these wannbe's, neverwillbe's and neverhasbeen's for what they truly are.

So, what did i do this time?, well let me tell you, on one of the forums I'm a member of, there is this one chap who apparently has more knowledge than every other person on the planet combined, yep a real life forum guru and definitely a legend in his own lunchtime, he's one of those chaps, that pertains to have done whatever it is you have done, but he has done it for longer and he has done it better than you ever could have, now bear in mind your academic or professional qualifications have no meaning whatsoever, because like i say, he is the be all and end all of every single topic of discussion.

A case in point recently was a thread on knife & axe throwing at targets, in he wades with all seeing and all knowing persona, starts shouting the odds about how he used to do this and used to do that and what equipment he used, of course the equipment he uses is the best money can buy and way way out of your price range, i have come to the conclusion that the guru's you find on the forums must be millionaires, as the amount of money they spend on equipment is way beyond the likes of you and i and our "average" incomes, it's a damned shame that most of the equipment they "own" never gets used, oh that would be because they don't actually own it in real life.

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

As I've started to build a nice little stock of items, like sheaths and pouches, i decided it was time i made another "promo" type of video and get it uploaded to You Tube, this is what i came up with, granted, it's not the best in the world, but it will suffice for the time being.

I can already see that some of the people who have viewed the video on You Tube have made their way here, as i can see in the stats, that some of my traffic is coming from there (Welcome to my blog if you are one of the people who followed the link on the You Tube video), all being well the video should serve to generate some extra traffic for my respective web presences and hey, it might even get me a few new orders and commissions - fingers crossed

Monday, 27 December 2010

I was very lucky this Chrimbo season and got gifted this superb spoon carving knife;

A Ben Orford large spoon knife, hand made in it's entirety, O1 tool steel blade and an Elm handle, I love Ben's tools, the reason, he uses them himself and therefore these have been designed and made by someone who actually uses them in their day to day life and in my mind, that makes one whole lot of difference to how a tool performs.

I have a few of Ben's tools now, three spoon knives in different sizes and styles and a Sloyd knife, i shall be sending off to Ben in the New Year for a Pick knife as well i think, and when i can afford it an external and internal beveled Crook knife.

Sure Ben's tools are not cheap, but in my mind they are worth every single penny of what he charges for them, Ben also makes a range of bushcraft knives and other green wood working tools as well, more info on his website for those who are interested www.benorford.com, I'm not affiliated to Ben in any way, shape or form, in fact he doesn't know me from Adam, I'm just a very happy user and customer of his products.

Sunday, 26 December 2010

We decided today that after the excess's of Christmas day, we would go on our traditional Boxing Day walk, it's only a few miles, but it serves to clear the mind, gets some fresh air in the lungs and get the blood pumping, so after lunch today, eldest and I set off on the walk round, where we walk is the South Downs National Park, helpfully the boundary between normal ground and National Park is the garden wall, in fact we are surrounded on three sides by the Park, lovely.

We had a slow walk up to the top of the hill and i was surprised to still see snow up there, albeit only on the hill tops, but there it was, just like icing sugar that's been sprinkled over a cake

We kept walking and soon found that the path was a little tricky, a blanket of solid ice covered it in it's entirety, we eventually got round to the back of the hill, where we met the local Beef cattle, Dr Doolittle I'm not I'm afraid.

Wednesday, 22 December 2010

I recently got given this book, OK it was a Birthday present, the book is quite simply brilliant, i cant put it down, it's both informative and funny, what's the book about you say?, well the title kind of gives it away i think

Yep, a whole book dedicated to the study of poop, or to give it it's correct name - Scat.

The book is a superb reference on scat ID, OK some of the animals and birds it discusses, i have little chance and in some cases, no chance of seeing in real life, like a T-Rex, but, you can find fossilised T-Rex poop, the book also covers animals and birds that are more common place, like Cattle, Bears, Rats, Seagulls etc, with a few more exotic animals thrown in for good measure, sure i might not see around where i live, but this book is not aimed just at the UK, it covers all areas of the world, including the Oceans, so while i might not find a pile of Lion poop while I'm walking the South Downs, i will find Fox Poop, but should i ever get to Africa again, armed with a little bit of extra knowledge gleaned from this book, i might just be able to ID some Lion or Rhino scat.

This book, while having a serious side, does have a light hearted side to it as well, such as, did you know the record for throwing a dry cow pat in 2006 stood at 61m (20ft) for men and 42m (138ft) for women and that Mouse Sh*t is used in Thai cooking, apparently Mouse sh*t is a nickname that's used for Phrik khii nuu chillies, as they are long, thin and small and resemble Mouse poop, the book probably wont appeal to all, and it's no where near as good as some of the scat ID books that are on the market, but i for one think it's a superb read and i challenge anyone not to learn something from it, even the most experienced of poopoligists will glean something from the book I'm sure.

The book is available from Amazon and other retailers for not a lot of pennies, go and get a copy, you wont be disappointed.

Tuesday, 21 December 2010

I tend to find that the handles/grips on commercially available Ferro rods, such as the Light My Fire models, are a little small for my canoe paddle like hands, as i had four ferro rod blanks just sitting around, i decided to turn some handles for them on the hand lathe.

First one is made from Ash, and suits my hand perfectly

Since i originally made this, i have modified it slightly by adding one of the Victorinox quick release key rings to the top of the handle, i drilled a 9mm hole in the handle and epoxied one half of the quick release clip in place, it was a mod well worth making, as i can now carry the ferro on a key ring, or neck carry as I'm currently doing.

While i had the lathe going, i also turned a few more from Elm, i still have these.,bar the one on the far left that i sent to someone, who i thought was a mate, in the USA.

Sunday, 19 December 2010

I have a partnership going with my Dad, i make wooden spatulas and spoons using my draw knife and shave horse,

once made i pass them over to him and he paints them, with all manner of different subject matter, all of the paintings are made freehand in water colours which are painted directly onto the wood, once complete the spatula or spoon is given a quick coat of fixative spray or light varnish to stabilise and protect the water colour paint, all of the spatulas pictured below, are left with a tooled finish to give that "woods made" feeling, below is just a small selection of what we have produced in the past few weeks

And, yes we also sell them, if interested, drop me a line for an up to date stock list

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Well folks, i eventually bit the bullet and got myself a Vendor Forum on Bushcraft USA, it's something that even up until last week, i didn't think i would use that much, but, it's all in place now and up and running.

I was urged to get it by Sgt.Mac on the forum as a place to show my wares, so as he's a good bloke, i went with his advice and got it set it all up.

As i said above i didn't think i would utilise it that much, but it's there now and should i, like this week, make a surplus of items (Pouches), it gives me another outlet to hopefully sell a few.

The weather in the past 24 hours has been a little mad to say the least, it all started yesterday afternoon with the onset of a seriously cold arctic blast from the north (well it would be i suppose), roads closed, ice, snow, people taking two hours to travel five miles, abandoned cars you name it we got it, i even heard on chap on the radio saying he was in his car and when he left home it was +2 degrees C, but in the space of 30 minutes the temperature had dropped to -5 - eek.

This morning i was expecting to wake up and find the world was white with snow, but it wasn't to be, at 0530 the skies were clear and the world outside was white with frost and the remains of yesterdays snow, by 0730, wow, what a difference, blizzard conditions, the road outside of the house turned from black to white in seconds.

The snow was followed by sleet, then hail, then freezing rain, then by more blizzard conditions, then it all stopped the clouds blew away and as i type this the sun is shining and the sky is that lovely crisp blue you only get in the winter time.

Out over the coast though there are some massive storm clouds, so being a snap happy type of chap with the camera, i grabbed the compact camera and went down the garden to get a few shots of the "big fluffers" as i call them.

Then off in the distance i see a cloud formation that was slightly unusual, conical in nature, so grabbing a pair of binoculars and the camera, i raced up the hill and from my higher vantage point looking out over the local town, i could see what at first was a funnel cloud, but in fairly short order and by looking through the binoculars, you could see the water being flung around at the base of it, a full blown water spout, i got a couple of photo's not very good ones admittedly, but by enlarging and cropping on the computer, you get a better view of it

So far the past few hours have been a wild ride, more snow is forecast for this afternoon, up to eight inches in a very short period of time by all accounts, and we are not out of the woods yet, tomorrow and Monday are supposed be fairly entertaining weather wise as well.

Thursday, 16 December 2010

A few new items added to the "Available Now" page on the Kepis Leather website, click on the link above to go to the site.

Please Note - We are expecting some severe weather in the UK from 16th December onwards, if the weather holds off i can mail out orders before Christmas, if not, i will not be going to the Post Office until January 2011, unfortunately it is now to late to post items overseas for a pre Christmas delivery.

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Continuing the leather working theme, i recently made a few belt hangers, these i use with my ferro rods, I've never seen the point or advantage of having a ferro rod on a sheath, this is just a personal view i might add.

OK, in the beginning the ferro rod when nice and new fits snug in it's holder on the side of the sheath, but after a bit of use, the diameter of the ferro rod obviously decreases and it's only ever going to get thinner with use, meaning that after a short period of time, it's going to be loose in the holder on a sheath, I've seen people use ranger bands and all manner of different things to keep a loose ferro rod in it's holder, so by my reckoning, if this is going to happen, why bother having that style of holder?, apart from the fact that in the "world of survival" i would want my knife and ferro rod separate anyway, just in case i lost one or the other of them, if they are on a sheath together, you loose both.

So, i suspend my ferro rod from a separate leather hanger as shown above, meaning that it's kept separate from my knife and therefore if, i should loose my knife, i still have a ferro rod on my person and i can use a piece of glass or flint if need to be to strike it in order to make a fire, that's my reasoning anyway, i don't bemoan those who like to keep a ferro on their sheaths and hell, i even make sheaths with ferro rod holders built into them and used to use them myself all the time, but, these days, it's just not for me.

Made a start with the leather hides i bought, i was going to go for a trip up the woods to do some tracking, but when i got up, i really couldn't be bothered, so I got a few pouches made up instead, this thin leather is lovely stuff to work with, sometimes the thinner stuff can be a bit a mare to get along with, but this stuff is just fine and dandy, I got five pouches made today, the two smaller ones i might sell off, the bigger ones though i think I'll keep for me.

All of them bar the one at top right are made from the Bovine leather, the one at top right is made from Pig leather and is most definitely mine, it looks and feels great, it feels very much like Reindeer leather.

The larger flatter one second from the left was a lot of work, the gusset is 24" long and at five stitches per inch, yes all of these pouches are double stitched by hand, no machines here, that makes a grand total of 240 stitches per side or a grand total of 480 stitches for the entire thing, not to mention, every single stitch hole was also hand awled, and people wonder why hand crafted gear is expensive, it's because it's hand crafted and there is a lot of effort involved, not like the cheap junk that comes out of China, still some people these days, just don't get the fact, that it takes time and effort to make something.

I might make a couple more in the style of the larger one, but there again i might not, it's a lot of effort to a get a pouch that doesn't really hold a great deal more than the other cylindrical ones do, but it takes more leather and more time to make, sure it looks nicer, but it's not as practical in terms of resources used.

Ive got a limited amount of the the light brown leather available, OK, i have another side coming as well, so if any one wants a pouch i might be tempted to make some of the cylindrical ones for sale, rough dimensions are 8 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches in diameter, these dimensions are +/- a margin of error to cater for the nature of using a natural product.

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Talk about a result, i have just bought two full sides of pre dyed (light brown) and finished bovine leather and three veg tanned pig skins for an absolute steal, the leather ranges from 0.5 to 1mm in thickness and has some small blemishes, but that is only to be expected with a natural product, below is a pic of one of the sides and one of the Pig skins, the ruler is a standard 12" model (30cm in new money).

I'm not going to bother dying the pig skin, as the look and feel of it in it's natural tanned state is just about perfect, guess I'm going to be making a lot of pouches and small bags in the next week or so.

Monday, 13 December 2010

As of this morning i decided to archive the blog that was integrated into my website and open a Blogger Blog instead, this blog is still accessible from my Bushcraft website though, and i have transferred over all of the entries from the previous blog to this one, so nothing has been lost.

I took the decision to move/open a Blogger account for a couple reasons, one being it gives me greater visibility and makes the blog easier to find becasue it's indexed, plus my Bushcraft website is hosted on Freewebs and they have just got into keyword advertising in the blog service they provide, and, well to be honest, it was annoying, you know the type of thing, words highlighted and as soon as your mouse cursor gets within a foot of it, it opens up a pop up within the page for stuff you really don't want or need, and the pop ups being the sort that a pop up blocker cant stop.

I know you cant really complain though, after all it is a free web hosting service and they are a business who are there to make money and the way they do that is by having integrated advertising, OK, i could purchase a domain from them or upgrade to their premium service, and that would get rid off all the advertising, but at the end of the day it's a hobby website and it's really not that important in the great scheme of things.

Anyway, i set he link in the navigation bar on the website to open the blog in a new tag/page, so if you do click on the blog link from the website, it should, in theory at least, mean the main website is still open, just in a different tab

Went for a short bimble down the lane earlier, didn't stay out for long as i had intended though, as it became apparent fairlyquickly that it was considerably colder than i had at first thought ,and i wasn't wearing the right clothes in all honesty to go for a longer walk as i had originally intended.

It's been one of those December days today though, woke up to find a frost on the cars, although this quickly disappeared as the morning went on, but all day the freezing fog has been rolling in and out, one minute the sun is shining, the next, you are struggling to see the bottom of the garden and even your hand in front of your face it's been that thick at times.

The woods at the end of the road, in a rare moment of visibility, just peeking out from the fog

Sunday, 12 December 2010

What is it about netting?, i mean, it's basically just the art of tying knots isnt it?, or is it?, believe me there is so much more to it, ive been lucky enough to watch some experts making and repairing nets and it's mind blowing, i have no chance in hell of keeping up with them or being anywhere near as good as they are.

Whatever it is about netting, i know it's addictive, even making the netting needles and the gage's is addictive, i suppose in the past month ive made half a dozen nets, purse nets, small net hammocks for storing childrens soft toys, right down to nets that will be used in variations of the old Cribbet trap for birds, not forgetting some smaller nets with a one inch mesh that we have over some precious plants in the garden.

At present im experimenting with different types of cordage products for making nets, obviously what you use to make the net will have a major effect on the strength of the net and what it can be used for, so far ive used 1mm nylon cord that was sold as being for use in the jewellery trade, which has worked brilliantly, although, i did have to modify the knot i use to stop the nylon slipping, ive used parcel string which worked well, but had a nasty habit of twisting up on itself all the time, then i used some traditional things like jute and good old fishing line.

I think part of the enjoyment of net making is trying different things to make a net from, but not forgetting it's a great skill to have under your belt, not only can you make a net into a bag to carry foraged items back to camp, but there is the more obvious use of fishing nets and traps so you can feed yourself, it's a skill that is so often over looked, but it's one that gives me a great deal of pleasure.

The biggest reason netting is addictive though, is it's relaxing, you are at one with the net and your thoughts, you end up in your own litle world, your thoughts going in one direction and your hands, as if on auto pilot, making the net, before you know it, a completed net is at your feet.

Friday, 10 December 2010

There was a discussion going on the forums about tinkering with photo's, ie making them sharper, adjusting the colours etc.

I posted up some of my Photoshop'd pictures in the thread concerned, but that is about the only place they are shown, so i figured id put a couple of them here as well for your viewing pleasure.

First one is a combine that was out on the hill behind home cutting the Linseed, i kept the colour on the machine, but changed the background to infrared

next one is of youngests Moose Knife (Moose being a good mate of mine), again, i kept the colour on the knife, but this time changed the back ground to black & white

This one is one of my favourites, it started life as a colour photograph of a newly unfurled Sycamore leaf, i seperated the leaf and adjusted the colours, then changed the back ground to black & white.

This is one of the best, well i think so, started life as a full colour photo of the remaining wall at Bramber Castle (12th Century), i played with the levels, sharpness and curves and then changed it to an Infrared style of image, the result i think is pretty good.

Just goes to show that camera's do lie these days, and with the power of a computer and some clever software, just about anyone can take a mediocre photograph and turn it into something quite stunning, in not a lot of time and without a great deal of skill.

As a general rule though, if im posting pictures to a forum, the only thing i do is to resize the image to 800x600 or 720x540, so it loads nice and fast as it has a much smaller file size, plus for people who don't have wide screen monitors, they can actually get to see the whole image at once without having to scroll over all the time, to be honest, if an image doesn't fit on my screen in it's entirety, i just dont bother with the thread any more, if the poster cannot be bothered to make a bit of effort to make it easy for his/her audience to view the content, then why bother posting it in the first place?, i suppose it's a common theme in this day and age, of people looking after number one and stuff everybody else, whereas in my book, a little bit of effort goes a long way and courtesy towards your fellow man, really doesn't cost anything at all, but I'll leave the rest of that rant for another entry at a later date

Thursday, 9 December 2010

Ive spent a bit of time making some small projects in the past couple of days, like a couple of alcohol stoves from tin cans, I also caught up on some leather work, made this for myself and spent ages and ages doing the tooling on it, as each scale is individually tooled into the leather.

Having made it, ive decided i dont want it, so it's up for sale if anyone wants it, more details etc on the Available Now page on my leather working website, which you can get to by clicking on the Kepis Leather link in the title bar at the top of this page.

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Went to do some Wood Pigeon shooting today, only in the back garden as we get quite a of few of them come in from the surrounding countryside looking for a free feed, especially in the cooler months, when we and some of the neighbours have seed and feed out for the wild birds to help them through the Winter, not only do we help to keep the Blue Tits, Robin, Blackbirds and Finches fed, but a bonus is attracting the Woodies into the garden, so they can feed us.

So there i was, perched in my snipers spot (top window up stairs), waiting nice and patiently for my quarry to come into the garden, so i waited, and i waited, Pigeons to be seen in next doors garden on both sides of the house, but i couldn't take a shot, as it would be illegal to do so, the birds were well within range of my HW97, but just not on my property.

So i wait some more, then one comes into the garden and perches on the fence, eventually if comes down onto the grass, i get the shot lined up perfectly, the cross hairs in my scope smack bang on the white collar of the Woodie, just at the base of it's neck, then .....

BANG

the damned builders next door but one, drop a plank or something and frighten the bird away - ARGH, guess it's chicken for dinner tonight then.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Not cooked in camp, but still worthy i reckon, the boys dinner this evening comprised Pigeon Breasts (i shot the bird the other day) flash cooked in a very hot lightly oiled pan, then just before serving it was doused in the juice of one freshly squeezed orange

Perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious

How many 11 & 13 years olds do you know who eat Pigeon and know how it arrived on their plate including the butchery process, and are just itching to get some more :)

Whilst i dont own a dog, i do like dogs, what i dont like is dog owners, ok, perhaps that's a bit strong, what i dont like are the dog owners who seem to feel that just because they are out in the countryside, they dont have to clear up after their pets have had a dump!.

Well the same rules apply in the countryside as they do in town im afraid, at the very least get a stick and knock the turd into the hedge rather than leave it in the middle of the path, or as im seeing more and more these days, suspending the turds in plastic bags off of fence lines or trees, like some archaic form of offering to the dog turd god, you want to keep an animal as a pet, then it's your responsibility to clear up it's mess after it's had a dump, just because you are in the countryside doesnt mean your responsibility has ended.

Is it too much to ask that your dog has a dump off the path and that you make some sort of effort to remove the offending article, rather than leave a huge steaming pile, smack bang in the middle of the path?.

Yep, they do my head in, mostie posties and self proclaimed guru's, there is no reasoning with them, their word is final, well they like to think it is and by God, don't ever disagree with them whatever you do, or you will be branded a liar and a trouble maker.

Having my own blog, means i have control of what is posted here and I cant get called out by the "mostie posties", who seem to think a high post count on a forum equals or indeed demands a high level of respect, these along with the self proclaimed "guru's" that seem to frequent many places on the web these days, when will they realise that respect is earned not given?.

The guru's and mostie posties have it in their heads, that they are the Internet police, their standard response to someone who doesn't agree with them, or where they don't understand the facts, is to bait them with a view to them getting them banned for being Trolls or trouble makers when they retaliate and try to defend themselves, sure there are some people out there, whose main purpose on a forum is to cause trouble and rock the boat and these "Trolls" deserve everything they get.

Whilst 99% of forums are privately owned, they do in general, allow for a certain level of free speech, within the rules of course, but, these people have it in their heads that performing a Google search and then doing a straight copy of an article they found on the Internet and pasting it into a new thread and calling it their own work (yes, I've seen that done) is an acceptable way to proclaim your expertise, well, in my opinion, if you have to do this then all you are doing is cheating yourself and holding yourself and your skill level in pretty low esteem.

The only real way to demonstrate your skill level, is to have actually tried to do what is being discussed, so what if you fail?, in my book there is no such thing as failure, just a learning experience, so give it another go and keep trying until you succeed, then and only then do you have the right to tell people they are doing it wrong or that trying something slightly different may produce a better result, not by reading others accounts of it in books or on forums and then proclaiming to have the knowledge yourself without actually having tried it in the first place.

Similarly someone doing a review of an item they got in the post that morning and proclaiming how good and great the item is just makes me laugh, how the heck can you review an item that you have not used - beggers belief doesn't it?, if you are going to review an item, at least get outside and use it for a little while so you can discover it's strengths and weaknesses, before you make a fool of yourself on the Internet, oh of course, they couldn't possibly do this, as this would mean actually having to posses some knowledge.

In addition to being self proclaimed Internet Police and regardless of what others think and have achieved in their lives and, for the main, are more than happy to share the knowledge they have gained through bitter experience, the guru's and mostie posties on the other hand like to think they know more about it than you do, or probably ever will know, in fact such is their level of "understanding", they have probably forgotten more than you will ever know, this is of course what they want you to think, but in reality they have achieved this apparent "superior" level of knowledge without even leaving the comfort of their air conditioned or centrally heated houses and by passing off others work and experiences as their own, what a truly sad sad way to live your life.

To all the Guru's and Mostie Posties that will read this, if you think this is aimed at you, then you are probably right, if you think it's not aimed at you, then you are probably wrong.

Decided it was time for a change of look for the Bushcraft & Leather work websites, both sites use the same basic template for continuity, but have some changes in look and feel to reflect the sites content, have a look at www.kepisleather.webs.com and www.kepisbushcraft.webs.com to see the differences between here and there.

Monday, 6 December 2010

Decided it was about time i made myself some new sheaths, not that i need any, but it's always nice to have some new gear, so i came up with these, all made from 3mm veg tan leather, two of them have tooling, the other being plain

As you can see from the pictures they all have dangler loops, i never used to like this particular carry style, but i tried it for a while and it's really grown on me, so much so, that i modified all of my belt sheaths to take a dangler, now i can carry whatever sheath i decide to use, either as a dangler or by removing the adapter as a neck sheath or baldrick style of carry or just by ignoring the brass loop and wearing the sheath in the standard style, i have to admit that the dangler option does make it much easier to put and and remove the sheath.

More info on the sheaths i make can be found on my leather craft website www.kepisleather.webs.com or click on the link in the nav bar above

Well it's been a while since i posted anything on here, to be honest i had forgotten all about the blog as ive had so many other things going on.

Will have to see if i can actually remember to keep this thing updated, im not like some where im going to give you every detail of what's been going on, as you dont need to know, but little snipets and info on upcoming projects will probably find their way here.

I suppose a fitting post will be the recent snow, had a light dusting last Wednesday, then over night into Thursday we had over a foot of snow fall.

this was taken on Wednesday 1st December 2010

This one was taken from the same spot on Thursday 2nd December

By Saturday it was back looking it same old self as we had an incredible thaw and the whole lot vanished almost overnight

now all we have to look forward to are the freezing cold temps, freezing fog and a stiff northerly wind, still for true outdoorsmen this is not a problem as we like to get out and about whatever the weather, rather than sit in front of a box and just think about it then pertain to be an all knowing guru who in real life has never experienced the very things they like to talk about.